The Waiting Game

Two weeks ago we finally got our visas. It was a six month process and would have taken longer if we had not had the assistance of New Tribes Mission in getting the job done. I have realized that everything takes time here in the Philippines. It doesn't matter how small the errand – you need to plan an entire day to accomplish any task. The most likely reason – the TRAFFIC. At 4:00 AM, I can get to the airport in 40 minutes. If I try it during daylight it would take 3 hours. When we first arrived here, the traffic was my biggest complaint, but now it's just a fact of life. You have to expect there to be congestion when you are living in a city with over 12 million people. The congestion goes beyond the streets – It's EVERYWHERE (market, grocery store, mall, etc.). After getting our visas, we went to get our Philippine driver's license. Fortunately, our language tutor's husband had a close friend who worked at the transportation office and he helped speed us through the process. We arrived at the transportation office a half hour before it opened and there were crowds of people everywhere. It took us 3 hours to get through the process and it would have taken twice that long if we hadn't had help from Raul's friend. The staff worked feverishly to get things done but when you have hundreds of people needing things processed there is only so fast you can go. For those people who don't want to wait (and have the finances) they can use a “Fixer” to get things done. I'm not sure of the legality of these services but for most any government process there is someone willing to do it for you. The question is, are you willing to pay for it? I guess, in a way, Raul was our “Fixer” that day but we were present for the process and no extra money changed hands – so it wasn't really a “Fix”. Coming from Springfield, IL with a population of maybe 150,000 to Manila is a major population shock and I'm still trying to adjust. God is teaching me to be patient and flexible. That's the only way to survive. I'll let you know if it gets any better.